The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1887-12-30
MUTE MASKS AND DoMINoEs.
Merry Dancers Who Kept Time by the
Sense of Feeling, and Talked Only by
From The Ne,o YorG Times.

From the Neio York Times
A ballroom, big and bare and still. Bril-
liant with light, but not a man or woman
In it. The orchestra are in the gallery, but
so far they have not touched their instru-
ments. 1t is 10 o'clock, and time the dance
is on. The folding doors open and the peo-
pie enter. And such people! They are in
masquerade costume, and never almost
We're 2OO Jewellers seen in more fantastic
dress. Couple by couple they march across
the waxed floor. They find seats on the
benches around the walls. The band has
not vet burst out with march or waltz. The
jewellers have not spoken From behind
their masks and dominoss they look out
upon the picture gay with color and bright
and brilliant as any masquerade ball. But
there is solemn silence, for the 200have the
dancing floor to themselves, and the 200 are
both deaf and dumb. Nature denied them
speech and hearing when they were born,
and no effort of themselves on of teachers
has given them the two great senses. Not
a whisper is heard from the great gather
ing. Some dresses rlistling. some heavy
breathing, and that is all. The scenes be-
comes more and more impressive to the few
men and women behind the orchestra in the
gallery, who can talk and can hear, and il
is a relief to them, blessed with all their
"NAAnS's NhGlts 11LSI lcil 1llnuUtS VI HIdNG-
yard silence set in balroomlgayety. the or
chestra begin the grand march, and the 200
people of the silent world rise for the prom
enade. So began last night the Gallaudet
Club ball in Adelphi Hall in Fifty-second
street, near Broadway. Thomas H. Gallau-
Diet was the founder of the system in
America for the instruction of the deaf and
dumb. In his honor the club was named,
and to help pay for statue to him the ball
frixya he al, fa1 -
New York and of all the country near here,
and even some of the silent ones from Eu-
rope, were in the hall.
These 200 people on the floor with useless
ears and tongues, useless for speech. could
not hear the faintest note from violin or
piano. And yet their feet tripped over the
floor in as true time as ever masters and
matrons at Patriarchs' bali pressed the
floor of Delmonico's. Nor did they look at
the orchestra eader beating time with his
baton to catch their cue. They caught and
kept in with the music solely through the
sense of feeling, for as the vibrations from
the instruments came out in waves through
the air and reached the wood of the floor
and the bodies of the dancers they, with
that increased gift of the sense of feeling
which comes to the deaf mute, felt the deli
cate waves and responded nimbly to them.
And then they became merry indeed. Fin
6SiS llslSuSd W eyes, anu lIUUle
the marchers care, seemingly. for their ina
billy to communicate as other people do. All
through the twistings of the march the con-
versation was maintained, and had it been
in spoken language that ballroom of the
Adelphi Hall would have buzzed with a
wonderful noise. Some OF the costumes were
both rich and bizarre The gowns of the
young, pretty and shapely girls illustrated
all the fashions from the time of Queen
Elizabeth to the day of the Empress Eu-
genie. And the men were courtly cavaliers
and Oxford studentsn cap and gown, plan
tation negroes, imps in the lurid colors of
Hades, cardinals in true cardinal red, bur-
lesque dudes, rlIstics labelled Josiah Hay
seed and Tom Greenhorn, copies of Uncle
Sam in stars and stripes, and some even
werei in imitation Of Satan himself.
The march went on and ended in dazzling
splendor, but in awful Stiffness Then came
the lanciers and then waltz. All the
while there was tremendous amount of
finger talk, but the more they talked the
quieter the room became. The dancing
went on till early morning, and before it was
over there were 500 people present.